Mexico’s government deployed approximately 1,000 soldiers as part of an operation aimed at finding and rescuing ten employees from a Canadian mining company. The workers were taken at gunpoint by members of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The incident began on January 23, when a group of gunmen believed to be with the Chapitos faction of the Sinaloa Cartel raided a mining camp near the town of Concordia, Sinaloa, and took the mining employees for unknown reasons. While the mining employees are Mexican nationals, they work for the Canadian company Vizla Silver — something that has drawn international attention to the case and pressured Mexico’s government into action. In Mexico, most cartel kidnappings go unsolved.
According to Mexico’s top security official, Omar Garcia Harfuch, there is no history of threats or extortion attempts by cartels against the mining company. Harfuch identified a cell of the Los Chapitos faction as the suspected culprits of the kidnapping. The cell is led by Oscar “El Casco” Martinez Larios, one of the main lieutenants within the criminal organization. Local news outlets in Mexico point to an increase in cartel activity and a buildup of forces in the days prior to the kidnapping.
According to Mexico’s federal government, the deployment includes Mexican military forces, Mexican Navy forces, and federal police officers, as well as various airplanes and helicopters that are being used to search for the missing mining employees. The deployment comes as a direct response to the firepower and number of gunmen that make up the Chapitos cell in the La Concordia region. According to Argentina’s Infobae, in March 2025, Mexican authorities seized more than 3,000 explosive devices tied to El Casco’s cell. The explosives are part of the criminal organization’s weaponized drone arsenal, which they have been using as part of a series of fierce turf wars.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart News Foundation. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart News Foundation’s Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
